As we all knew, the “scheduling conflict” farce was exactly that, but it’s kind of weird to see the NFL basically admit as much.

People have already been tuning out of the draft with the additional two weeks, and another set of weeks to wait might be too much. Even if the NFL found its media holdings increase their revenue as a result (namely the NFL Network and NFL.com), I doubt this maximizes the long-term revenue prospects for the league. The draft is a spectacle that itself creates millions of dollars. The idea that there may be no turning point on that is ridiculous, and the NFL is doing itself wrong.

Naturally, general managers and coaches—who have already complained about the changed schedule—will be in even more of an uproar as their vacation time disappears and rookies get the playbook even later.

There are two reasons for it.
1.. The League is directly competing with the NBA and to a lesser extent the NHL by putting the draft in the climax of its playoffs, the NBA has no weapons to combat this aside from sliding its season earlier into the fall.. Say September. This would be a very aggressive strategy but it may help put the NFL back into check by directly affecting market share on Sundays. It’s actually interesting the networks haven’t already pushed against the NFL because networks benefit from both leagues being popular.

2.. The longer the process goes the more overall time spent on NFL related sites, and thus marketing dollars. Remember the year the NFL last locked out how weird the end of the draft was? “So, to be continued. At some point.. Most likely” and then poof. It was like the league didn’t exist. Between the draft and mid preseason there is much less attention paid to the NFL. But as fans it won’t matter. Some of us will adjust by giving less credence to the middle stages of the scouting process. Unless we need a quarterback.

Anyone listening to mark Cuban just realize he was part of the investment group that last failed to develop a competitor league. It was the AFL I believe. He knows the NFL is trying to beat down the NBA. Why do you want to watch two teams you don’t care about while your team might trade up in the NFL draft! So as cute as it is to talk about the NFL getting fat, it’s not going anywhere in the relative future.

I REALLY hope the Vikes do the right thing and focus on their need areas, not just the “best available player”
I give the example of Mike Evans. Great player, fantastic even…..but the Vikes are ‘solid’ right now at the skill positions (outside of QB obviously).
They’ve also been speculated to take a DT or CB with the first pick….areas that they now have reasonable talent at.
QB, linebacker, and O-line look to be the biggest opportunities for upgrades, and the need for immediate impact starters. Hopefully they can get those (or trade up), or wait by trading down if there is talent someone else will pay for at 8.